1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern observation apparatus, a pattern observation method, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a program.
2. Related Background Art
When information on a defect detected by a pattern inspection apparatus is loaded into a scanning electron microscope (hereinafter simply referred to as an “SEM”) to observe the defect in more detail, the defect may not come into a field of view if the coordinate accuracy of the inspection apparatus is poor. In this case, it is necessary to enlarge the field of view, but simply decreasing the magnification increases a pixel size and reduces defect detection sensitivity. Thus, the number of pixels has heretofore been increased while the magnification is kept fixed in order to enlarge the field of view.
However, if the number of pixels per direction is simply multiplied by n, an image acquiring time is multiplied by n×n, so that there has been a disadvantage that a throughput is significantly decreased.
As another method, there is a technique in which when a defect can not be detected within a field of view, regions on the periphery of the field of view are searched. However, this method requires as much extra observation time in proportion to the number of times that the searches are conducted, and there has still been a problem of a decreased throughput.
Furthermore, there is a technique for correcting coordinates on the basis of individual data on the basis of the coordinate accuracy of the pattern inspection apparatus. However, the corrected data needs to be modified in accordance with changes with time in the coordinate accuracy of the pattern inspection apparatus and every time maintenance is done on the apparatus, so that there has been a problem that troublesome operations are demanded.